


Symbolic of a Prosperous Partnership

by APgeeksout



Category: Life (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Hints of Crews/Reese - Freeform, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-10 23:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3307157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APgeeksout/pseuds/APgeeksout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anniversaries were important to Crews, she'd learned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Symbolic of a Prosperous Partnership

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grimorie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimorie/gifts).



“There are – or there used to be, anyway – some spare bathing suits in the guest bathroom, if you want to take a swim,” Crews offered.

Dani shook her head, and turned one more cuff in the leg of her slacks, bringing the edges up over her knees. “I'm good here,” she said, lowering her feet into the clear, cool water of the pool. “And I'm going to do you the courtesy of not speculating as to why several of the few possessions you've accumulated are extra bikinis.”

“A soul seeking zen may still be a gracious host,” he said solemnly. It had taken her a long time to peg that tone as the one Crews used when he knew he was spouting a line of pure bullshit, and wanted to see if you knew it, too. A joke and an invitation to play that she hadn't heard at first, but now rarely missed. “Hospitality takes one outside one's own needs and desires in the service of another.”

“Crews, if there's one thing I want to hear about less than zen and the art of closet organization, it's gotta be you servicing women in borrowed bikinis.”

He smiled and handed her a flute glass full of orange juice. He sat down beside her on the stone patio and raised his own glass to hers. “Happy anniversary, partner.”

“And to many more.” She clinked their glasses together and took a sip. It had been such a good day – one case closed, personal effects returned to the victim's family in another – that she didn't even long for a shot of vodka or an inch of champagne in the bottom of the glass.

Anniversaries were important to Crews, she'd learned. Over the last four years, he'd marked not just the beginning of their partnership and his return to the force, but little ones too: the day he'd moved into this house, the day Ted had gone to find Olivia, the day Rachel had enrolled in school. Next week would make a full year since Seever had arrested Raybourn on three or four dozen charges. She wondered what he would do to mark the occasion.

As he cast off shoes and socks and rolled up his own pants to mirror her position on the lip of the pool, she wondered if anniversaries had always mattered this much to him. She knew Crews now probably as well as she'd ever known anyone – at least as well as she knew herself, some days – but she still found herself wondering all kinds of things about him. Would all these anniversaries still matter so much after he got to count beyond twelve years? Would she still be here with him when that time came? Were there freckles on the skin covered by his t-shirt?

She swished her feet through the water, briefly hooking her ankle around his. “So, I don't know if you know this,” she said, “I can't believe _I_ know it, but the traditional fourth anniversary present is supposed to be fruit.”

He smiled, soft and a little sad. “I didn't know. Jen and I didn't make it that far.”

“Well,” she said, trying to sweep him along from thoughts of the other life that he could and should have had. He didn't like to sink back into that old grief and anger any more than she liked to watch it eating him alive. “It seemed too good to pass up, so I got you something.” She pointed to the canvas grocery sack that had been sitting ignored next to her discarded boots.

He stretched and snagged one of the handles, drawing it across the smooth stone to peer inside, his smile going broader and brighter as he lifted one of the nubby, green fruits out and identified it. “Cherimoya. Thank you, Reese.”

“Any time, partner.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Fruit and/or flowers are the traditional gifts for a fourth anniversary.
> 
> The graphics are remixes of [A Softer World](http://asofterworld.com) comics [#800](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=800), [#470](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=470), and [#911](http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=911%22).


End file.
